


Another One Bites the Dust

by NerdWhoSaysNi



Series: Marvel Oneshots [7]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Gen, M/M, Marvel Universe, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Superfamily (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 07:19:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16529996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdWhoSaysNi/pseuds/NerdWhoSaysNi





	Another One Bites the Dust

It was one day off, but they were going to make the best of it. Everyone was home. Well, mostly everyone. The grandparents were off fighting some threat in Wakanda, but all the kiddos were in NYC for Saph and Jace’s anniversary. Technically, it was also the anniversary of the day WWIII was declared, but they were all ignoring that minor detail. 

Saph stood with her husband and best friends, laughing over drinks. Jace had an arm around his wife’s waist, holding her, keeping her close, protecting her even when she didn’t need it. Beside them, Adam and Bri were sharing a story about one of their tater tots. Their smiles glowed. When they finished the story, Hal fetched another bottle of seltzer and topped everyone up. “Is Loki coming?” Jace asked.

“No, he can’t make it. He left with Thor on a mission about a week ago and contacted me yesterday to say it might be another week before he’ll be home. Something about Asgard being prophetically destroyed and taking the population of the planet to Norway. Not as crazy as some other missions.”

Saph nodded. “Oh yeah, that’s not too bad. And Norway seems chill. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Haley almost responded when Dean and Philipe ran up to their mothers. “Maman,” Philipe said, “do you think we could use some of the spare parts in Mr. Stark’s lab? We want to build a lightsaber.”

Bri shook her head. “That’s not a question for me. You would have to ask him yourself.”

Adam gave his wife an appalled look. “What? No. No lightsabers at all.”

The boys turned away, already scheming something new. They were twenty now, but they were still tinkering and building and getting in and out of trouble like they were thirteen still. In fact, both of Hal’s boys seemed to be troublemakers in cahoots with their cousins. She could see Devon and RJ sitting across from each other and playing a card game with bagel bites instead of poker chips. They were both cheating. But they didn’t play to win fairly; they played to learn to cheat better. 

In the middle of the room, Shasta sat cross legged on the floor with Leah, Sam, Victoria, and AJ while the frenchie fries colored and the older girls passed them markers and pencils and other coloring supplies. 

“I’m going to join them,” Saph told the circle. As she walked towards her youngest daughter, a little tug on her leg got her attention. “What? Who’s-?”

When Saph turned around, her smile doubled. “Hi, Mum,” Rose greeted. “Sorry we’re late. We hit a bit of traffic leaving the city.” Saph folded her daughter into a tight hug, then pulled back and scooped her grandson into her arms and smattered his little face with kisses. Behind Rose, Steven, Milo, and Benji entered with a mix of bright but unsure expressions. Saph gave every one of them the biggest hug she could. 

Saph pulled Steven aside and said, “How long were you going to wait to tell me?”

“Mom,” he protested. “It’s only been a few months. I’m not rushing anything. He asked to come with me to meet you and Dad.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Introduce us.” She gave her son a little shove toward Benji and gestured for Jace to join them. Jace peeled off from the circle and met Steven with a manly, back-slapping hug before shaking Benji’s offered hand. 

Rose led Milo further into the room and started the rounds of introductions. When they reached Shasta, Shas took her nephew by his chubby little hands and brought him over to the coloring circle so Rose and Milo could get some drinks and enjoy socializing. Arlo laid on his stomach next to AJ and borrowed a few colored pencils. His white blond hair stuck out among all the dark brunettes of the Croix’s, and when he looked up, he had the same bright blue eyes as his parents. 

As usual, Seraph was late to the party. But this time, it hadn’t been intentional. She slipped in around the edges first, playing cards with Devon and RJ, then chatting with Shas and coloring with the kiddos, then approaching her mom. Haley was understanding when Raph explained how she had gotten out of work late because there were some crazy stories going on. Vandalism of a historic cathedral in Scotland; UFO sightings over multiple cities; gang wars in Central Park (not that that was so new); explosions and fire and stuff. She’d had to fake a migraine for her boss to let her go. 

“You came alone?” Haley asked quietly. “I thought you and Pietro made up?”

“We did. He’s on his way. He texted me a few minutes ago. But we didn’t know Rose and Arlo were going to be here. Once he sees her, he might skip.” Hal nodded and let Seraph go hang out with her friends. As soon as Saph and Jace were free, Raph gave them both hugs and good wishes. Saph and Jace had to keep moving to go see everyone, so Raph took the chance to go talk to Rose. 

She stood politely aside until there was a break in conversation before stepping in. “Rose? May I speak with you for a minute?” She led her a little ways away so they could have some privacy before starting to talk. “I had no idea you were coming, and it’s good to see you again.”

“What are you playing at?” Rose shook her head, eyes narrowed. “You hated me when I got pregnant while you were dating Pietro.”

Raph looked away and took a deep breath. “Right. We haven’t caught up in a while, have we?” So this wasn’t going to be as civil a conversation as she hoped it would be. “I never hated you. I was scared. I was scared that Pietro would leave me and that he would fall in love with you instead. I was scared of a future without friends and without support. I hated myself for feeling inadequate.” She dropped her eyes to the floor. “And I hated that you had something I never will. A child. And all the happiness and love that comes with it.”

Rose pulled her little cousin into a hug and said, “Forgiven.” She pulled away and searched Raph’s face for a moment. The usual wall that she had always kept up as a teenager was absent. There was no acting here, no lies. “But that’s not what you wanted to tell me.”

“It is. Half of it. The other half is that Pietro is on his way here. He doesn’t know you’re here too. But he’s coming for your mom because she loves him and treats him like another slightly wayward son and with all the love that she shows RJ. And he loves her too. And I know you don’t want him to act as Arlo’s dad, but he really loves Arlo too, and wants to be in his life. But I know you two aren’t on good terms. And-” She shrugged. “I don’t know. For your mom’s sake, please, can we all just get along for today?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah. I can do that.”

“Thank you.” 

Laughter, games, drinks, fun, talking. The whole room was joyful and full of family and hugs and all the good, fluffy, heart-warming things an anniversary family reunion things should be. Pietro and Rose were getting along civilly, Pietro was coloring and playing with Arlo, and Milo was enjoying meeting everyone else. The frenchie fries played tag, the adults played Would You Rather, and the teens and everyone in between made their own fun. They were a family. One giant, super-powered, occasionally lethal, and usually goofy family. 

Two circles formed in the room for games. The first circle contained Saph, Jace, Steven, Benji, Rose, Milo, Haley, Bri, and Adam bouncing AJ on his knee. Arlo was part of the circle too, but he was getting shared among everyone, passed around and cooed over like an actual cherub. The second circle was RJ, Shasta, Seraph, Pietro, Devon, Dean, Philipe, Leah, Sam, and Victoria. No game was ever boring in this family. Everyone was competitive, and it was easy for simple things to become a competition. 

“Uno!” Jace announced. 

“What? No!” Saph faced him. “No way. You had three cards just last turn. You’re hiding one.”

Banter broke out and bounced around the circle like a balloon. Everything was still light and joking, but with all the tension of “don’t let the balloon touch the floor”. 

“If that’s a wild card, so help me, I will crawl over there and challenge your cute, cheating butt to a rematch,” Saph threatened.

“Be my guest,” Jace countered. 

His wife was about to make another retort when one of the girls in the other circle screamed. Silence dropped over the room. The adults and parents leapt to their feet to see what was wrong. Before their eyes, Leah disappeared into a cloud of dust. 

“W-What’s happening?” Phil said, staring wide-eyed at the pile of ash that used to be his sister. “What’s going on?”

Sam and Victoria ran to their parents and Bri and Adam scooped them up. Bri picked up Sam and held him tightly against her chest as she looked at her husband in desperation. He was holding Victoria and AJ and staring back, but in that moment, Victoria began to vanish as well. They couldn’t do anything. They were helpless to stop whatever it was that was going so very wrong. 

Another scream got their attention, but this time, it was Saph. She watched in horror as Shasta turned to ash as well. She sprinted to where her baby girl had been sitting and touched the ashes in disbelief. 

“Mom?” Dean stood up, tears in his eyes. “Mom?” He was staring at his hand as his fingers began to disappear. With his last effort, he looked up at Haley and reached for her. 

“No no no no no no!” Benji gasped. He tried to hold on to Steven, but it was too late. Steven’s ashes fell through Benji’s fingers. Beside him, Milo disintegrated too. Rose ran for Arlo where he was standing in front of Jace’s legs. Just before she could reach him, she saw her arm fall away and the rest of her followed. The last thing Rose saw was her baby boy’s terrified eyes.

Jace and Saph picked up Arlo and hugged him in between their bodies. RJ joined his parents, clinging to his mom in a way he hadn’t since he was five. He was scared. He waited to feel himself turn to ash, but it never came. He wanted to close his eyes and pretend it was all a nightmare, and when he opened his eyes, he would wake up and everything would be okay again. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t close his eyes in fear that someone else would disappear.

And his fears were real. This whatever-it-was wasn’t finished. Arlo started screaming, so RJ took the little boy away from his parents and tried to soothe him. Except RJ was the one who needed soothing as he watched his parents turn to ash in each other’s arms.

Saph held onto her husband and felt him pull her closer without Arlo between them anymore. Something was terribly wrong. She could feel it. And it was spreading. Squeezing her eyes shut and gripping Jace’s hand, her last thought was, “Ironic.” If it weren’t death, it would be funny. Dying together, in each other’s arms, on their wedding anniversary. Exactly how death should be, but the timing was ironic.

Everyone was shocked. The remaining people in the room weren’t survivors. They were just waiting. Waiting to watch everyone else they loved vanish. They were waiting to die themselves and have the relief of knowing that they would not be living with this hollow aching pain. No one knew where to look. No one knew who would be the next to go. All they could do was cling to each other and hope that when they blinked, their arms wouldn’t be empty. 

The only person standing alone was Haley. She knelt in front of Dean’s ashes with tears streaking her face, and a horrible sinking feeling entered her stomach. They had lost. This wasn’t even a battle they could fight, but they had lost. How was she going to tell Loki that their son had disappeared, turned to ash in front of her. She wanted Loki to be home, to be there with her, to be there to hold onto when nothing else seemed stable. She needed him. 

Seraph watched, frozen, as her mother tipped her face toward the ceiling and vanished. “Noooo!” She sprinted across the room and fell onto her hands and knees beside the dust of her little brother and her mom. “No!” 

Devon wrapped his arms around his sister’s waist and hauled her to her feet. He enclosed her in his arms and let her sob into his chest. Arlo began to scream. RJ was too hot. His shock and fear were making him lose control. When he put Arlo down, the toddler waddled over to Pietro and clung to his father’s leg. Pietro picked him up and held him. Just held him. It was all he could do.

They looked around. Only half of the party, half of the family remained. “What do we do now?” Philipe asked. His voice sounded empty and flat. Shocked. 

“There’s nothing we can do,” Bri said.


End file.
